


better luck next time

by BucketLover



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Death, Death-Cast AU, Gen, I'm Sorry, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Burn, the They Both Die at the End AU literally no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-09-23 00:12:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17069846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BucketLover/pseuds/BucketLover
Summary: Lance McLain has wasted time for most of his life. He never thought that getting his call from Death-Cast and meeting an impulsive, hot-headed mullet guy would determine him to live the last day of his life in a way that he would not regret.Keith Kogane lost his job and got his alert both in one day. His luck has always been terrible except for one time. When it helped him meet this annoying guy with what he could only call astrikingpersonality.Becoming each other's Last Friends was surely unexpected, because who would think such polar opposites would want to spent their last day together? They don't get along at first, but neither of them wants the other to leave. They have to make it work, even though it won't really matter in the end. Because in less than twenty-four hours, they will both be dead.





	1. (00:13)

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a fix-it fic, but since this book wrecked me a day after season 8 this is what came of it. If you didn't read it, please read the book. It's called "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera. It was so goood. Anyway, let's get to it!

**Lance**  
(00:13)

Lance was wasting time. He has been wasting time his whole life, that much he was aware of. He has been wasting time while pining after Allura, who he knew for a fact would never feel the same way. He was wasting time, working at a bookstore instead of going to college, because he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. And he was wasting time the day he got his alert. Wasting time was nothing new for him, but he never expect it to run out so soon. 

Lance sure as hell wasn’t expecting to get his call tonight, because he still thought he would have _time_. Fate wouldn’t have it like that, it seemed. 

His life was dull and boring for the most part, that night was nothing different. It was barely 12 AM when he got to his apartment. Normally, the movie night with Hunk and Pidge took well past midnight, but since Pidge was having their finals soon and they were a giant nerd they insisted on going to sleep early. Hunk was also a bit tired, so in the end, they decided to called it a night. 

Lance locked the door behind him. He wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight. He threw his phone on the couch and took off his shirt. He went into the bathroom and let water run to warm up. Out of pure boredom, Lance walked up the fridge and opened it, only to see what was inside. He wasn’t really hungry after the mountain of snacks he’d had at his friends’ place and the consistent meal Hunk had made for them. He shut the fridge door and walked back to the bathroom to stop the water. He was about to take off his clothes and get in the shower when his phone began ringing. Lance freezed on the spot. 

The ringtone. It was _the_ ringtone. The ringtone he wasn’t supposed to hear until he was old and grey and married and with his own children. After he’d fallen in love with someone who loved him back; after he’d seen the world. He wasn’t supposed to hear this ringtone from his phone when he came home from a movie night with his best friends. It just couldn’t be possible. He couldn’t die now. 

Lance squeezed his eyes shut as he felt terror enveloping his body. He wished, hoped from the bottom of his heart, that it would stop. Maybe it wasn’t real. Maybe if he pretended he couldn’t hear it, it would stop. Maybe some poor guy outside his apartment got the call and it was somehow so loud it could be heard clearly from where Lance was standing. After a few moments of horror, Lance opened his eyes. It was silent, so it wasn’t for him. Lance almost let out a sigh of relief when the terrible song began playing again. 

He couldn’t avoid it this time. He knew it from when his Abuelo passed away, two years ago. When his father’s phone rang and everyone was terrified to answer. So they didn’t. Until they couldn’t put it off any longer and the person behind the line told them Abuelo would die. Lance’s grandfather was actually glad they called for him, rather than his dad. He was a good man, Lance thought wistfully, letting his thoughts wander to Abuelo for barely one moment, realizing he had to be brave like his grandfather was.

Lance moved slowly towards the couch. He glanced at it, maybe hoping that something else other than “Death-Cast” would be written on it. He had no such luck. He bend over the couch to pick up his phone and with shaky hands he pressed answer. 

“Hello, I’m calling from Death-Cast. I’m Nyma. Are you there, Lance?”

Lance didn’t reply. He was shaking. His whole body was shaking. There was no mistake. Every bit inside of him that hoped that maybe Death-Cast got his number wrong, was dead. Just as he will be soon. 

“Lance, I need to confirm it is you,” Nyma said from the other end of the phone in an indifferent tone. Like she didn’t care she was informing a man of his death. She probably didn’t. She does this every day and she probably grew numb to it by now.

“Lance, are you still there?” 

Lance sighed, swallowing his sobs. “Yeah.” His voice cracked. “It’s me. I’m Lance.”

“Lance, I regret to inform you that in the next twenty-four hours you’ll be meeting an untimely death. And while there isn’t anything we can do to suspend that, you still have a few options for today.” The speech was recited in an almost robotic manner. Lance wondered how many people did this girl inform of their death. And Lance didn’t mean anything to her. From the hundreds of people she spoke to every day, he was just another Decker who she called only to get her paycheck.

Gosh, it was hard even to stand at this point. Lance fell to his knees, failing to balance himself with the back of the couch.

“The weather should be sunny tomorrow and tonight you only have a little bit of wind to worry about,” Nyma continued almost as if she just wanted to get it over with. Lance allowed her that little pleasure. He hung up. He didn’t particularly care about the weather, or what centers were open for him to visit. 

Left alone in silence, only one thought was swirling through Lance’s mind. He was going to die. In the next twenty-four hours he was going to _die_. Lance suddenly felt the contents of tonight’s meal come back to him and he ran to the bathroom, immediately emptying his stomach. He wiped his mouth with some toilet paper as he sat down on the cold bathroom floor. 

What was he going to do? What was he _supposed_ to do? He looked at his phone, wondering who to call. He settled on Allura. She was the only person he could call. She would know what to do. 

He opened his contacts, immediately finding Allura’s name. He pressed call and put the phone to his ear. 

It took about four rings until a raspy voice answered.

“Hello?” Allura said and Lance could make out the confusion and sleepiness in her voice.

“Lance? What’s going on?” 

Lance sighed trying to find his words. “I just, I wanted to call you.”

Some shuffling was heard from the other side. “Why? What’s wrong?” 

Before Lance could answer he heard a voice from the other end and he immediately recognized it as Lotor’s.

“What happened?” 

“Lance called,” Allura whispered. “I don’t know what’s going on. Lance, are you still there?”

“Oh, uhm, yeah,” Lance replied. He didn’t know what to say anymore. 

“Are you ok?” Allura asked. 

More shuffling was heard and more hushed whispers that Lance couldn’t make out this time. He couldn’t do this, he decided. It would ruin her evening. Allura was there with her fiancé, enjoying a quiet night. Lance used to hate Lotor for being the one to be next to Allura at night. But there were times when he got to witness how gentle and caring Lotor was with Allura and Lance knew that she was loved and cared for, exactly the way she deserved. Even if it wasn’t _him_ who cared for her. 

He’d do it in the morning. For now, Lance would let them sleep next to each other without a worry. He’d tell everyone in the morning. If he made it that far. 

“Yeah, I’m ok,” Lance lied, already feeling bad for lying to one of his best friends. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how late it was. I wanted to complain about Pidge ending our movie night early.” Lance forced out a laugh. Allura saw right through him. 

“Are you sure, you’re ok?” she pushed and Lance felt a knot forming in his throat.

“Yes,” Lance managed to say without his voice cracking. “Sorry, I really didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine,” Allura said. “As long as everything is alright.”

“Goodnight,” Lance said quickly and then hung up, without allowing Allura to say anything else. 

Lance sighed and got up off the floor. He put some toothpaste on his brush and began cleaning his teeth. 

He might as well make the most of what he had left. He’d talk to Allura in the morning, visit Hunk and Pidge, call his parents and then do something for his last day. He couldn’t let them know he was dying, though. It would break them and he didn’t want to spend his last day crying with the ones he loved. He was done wasting his time. He had to live now. Live in one day, more than he had lived his whole life. Use his time more wisely than he has ever done.


	2. (00:46)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! So more chapters soon :D

**Keith**  
(00:46)

Keith enjoyed the feeling of the wind in his hair as he rode his motorcycle. Riding was the only thing he could do to cool his head these days. He lost his job. Which wasn’t an unusual occurrence for him. He has been known for being really bad at dealing with annoying customers because of his temper and he might have taken it too far on quite a few occasions. 

Working in customer service maybe wasn’t the best thing for him, but those are the only jobs he has a little bit of experience with and he couldn’t really afford wasting time training for some other things. He had to focus on college. Or that’s what Shiro insisted anyway. Keith still had doubts. Majoring in art was a decision made on a whim and he still wasn’t too sure, but out of all the options he had, that one was the least troublesome. 

Keith parked the motorcycle in front of a diner and took off his helmet. He really should have returned home, but he decided to have a small meal before that. He told himself it was just because he was hungry, but in reality he knew he wouldn’t be able to face Shiro so soon. He didn’t want to see that disappointment on his face when Keith entered Shiro’s apartment. Another option was to just go home, but Keith had promised to visit Shiro and Curtis and he didn’t want to go back on his word. 

He sat down at the free table nodding his head in acknowledgement when some of the people he knew waved at him. A waitress came immediately and asked him what he wanted. He settled for a cup of coffee, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. 

Keith took out his phone, silently wincing when he saw three missed calls from Shiro. He put it down on the table, just as the waitress brought him his coffee. Keith thanked her and moved to take a sip when his phone began ringing. He almost spilled the coffee all over his lap at the sound of it. The diner turned quiet and Keith could feel everyone’s gaze on him. He put down the cup and taking a deep breath he picked up his phone. The caller’s ID said “Death-Cast” in big, white letters. He widened his eyes, even though he had been expecting it. Maybe deep down he hoped that he imagined the ringtone, or something. 

He pressed answer and put the phone to his ear, ignoring all the pitiful stares around him. 

“Hello, I’m calling from Death-Cast. My name is Rolo. Is this Keith Kogane?” 

Keith brought his other hand to his mouth, anxiously picking on his fingernails with his teeth. He stood silent for a moment feeling like his insides had turned upside down. 

“Yes, it’s me,” he replied his voice cracking. 

“Keith, I regret to inform you that in the next twenty-four hours you’ll be meeting an untimely death. And while there isn’t anything we can do to suspend that, you still have a few options for today.” The guy’s voice was nice, soothing even, but what he was saying made Keith boil with anger. 

“My options?” Keith asked surprising even himself by how calm his voice was. He was not feeling like that. 

“Yes, there are quite a few centers open for you to check out on your last day, if you are interested, I can tell you what you can do,” Rolo explained as Keith fell on his back turning his head to look at the ceiling finding great interest in the grease spots. 

“No thanks,” Keith replied. 

“Keith? Are you alright?” 

The guy meant well, but Keith couldn’t really help it. “What do you think, dumbass? You just told me I’m going to die, so no?” 

“I’m sorry, Keith, that was very insensitive of me. Is there anything else I can do for you?” 

“Just fuck off. That would be great, thanks,” Keith yelled louder than he intended before ending the call. 

He sighed and let his head fall on the dirty table with a thump. He felt oddly… empty. After that sudden rush of anger had disappeared he realized he didn’t feel sad or scared even though he knew he should. 

“Uhm, can I get you something else?” 

Keith pressed his cheek to the table turning to look at the waitress. She had pity written all over her face. _Just great,_ Keith thought.

“No, thanks,” he said and she nodded. Hesitantly she turned around and left him alone. 

He let his eyes scan the diner, stopping when he noticed those guys that waved at him earlier watching him. They weren’t really friends, but they had hung out sometimes. One of them gave him a sympathetic smile and Keith groaned. He had always hated people pitying him and even now as he was near his death they won’t stop doing that. He wasn’t some porcelain doll that would break at the smallest ruffle. He could handle himself, as he had for years. 

Keith picked up his phone his thumb hovering over Shiro’s name. He had to call him. He had to tell him. He was aware it would hurt Shiro a lot to hear it, but not knowing would hurt him even more. He looked at the time. It was about one. Maybe it was a bit late, though.

Contemplating what to do, his eyes slipped to a pamphlet that was on the table near the menu. It was advertising an app called “Last friends”.

“I’m such a coward,” Keith whispered to himself as he opened the app store. He found it easily and Keith found it really freaky how fast it was being downloaded. It made him more aware of the impending feeling of doom looming over him. 

He’d tell Shiro about his death later. Until then, he might as well find someone to spend his last day with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the story so far, a review would be appreciated :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment with your thoughts! They are life giving :D


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